Good Protection, Bad Protection, Get Your Scorecard from the NYT

Educated people know that protectionism is bad -- free trade is the way of the future, protectionism is the Neanderthal past. But, of course protecting intellectual property is good, and people who don't support protecting intellectual property are bad. And, by the way, we never talk about the cost of protecting intellectual property.

If anyone cared about consistency, we would have some problems here, but fortunately we have the NYT to guide us through this slippery terrain. Take this gem that appeared in an article on enforcing protection for intellectual products in China:

"Protectionists in the United States have become an increasingly vocal group, he said in a speech to business executives, adding,'and they point to the lack of robust I.P. protection in China as a top reason why we should put protectionist policies in place.'"

Without the help of the NYT how would we ever be able to distinguish the good protectionists from the bad protectionists?